Bottled Up
by Bluben
Summary: "It didn't matter to you in the winter! Now everything I say and do concerns everyone and I hate it! Now everyone notices me and I don't like it." After weeks of trying to brush it off, their worries and concerns seem to have spilled right in front of them in forms of arguments.


**Title: Bottled up**

**Summary: "It didn't matter to you in the winter! Now everything I say and do concerns everyone and I hate it! Now everyone notices me and I don't like it." After weeks of trying to brush it off, their worries and concerns seem to have spilled right in front of them in forms of arguments.**

**Rating: T**

…

* * *

**Bottled Up**

* * *

…

At first, he was happy.

Honestly, he got the greatest thing he'd ever wanted, to be accepted, knowledged and for the people in the village to say even simple greetings without seeming it condescending. He did enjoy just walking out of the house and just have some pleasant greetings with one of the villagers. It was amazing.

Not only did the village gave him attention and showered him with praise, something he wasn't used to, but the teens were also noticing him. With him defeating the big scary dragon and now completely changing the way they view dragons, he's become '_the dragon master,'_ a title he didn't even know was defining him. With that, any related questions about dragons were questions directed towards him. From something as simple as "how many baskets does the Nightmare eat?" to something as complicated as "do you think our dragons will mimic some of our behaviours?" For some time, he was trying to avoid Fishlegs and all the questions that he just didn't have answers to. Needless to say, he was happy to hang around the teens.

Astrid was just a big bonus for him.

He honestly doesn't know what to think of the blond shieldmaiden, considering the events that happened right after he woke up. But they took it in stride and have become friends, something he only _dreamed_ of. Any help he needed, she was the first to offer and to sympathize with him. They'll sometimes meet at the plaza and just say a few words before one of them has to leave to do some chores. To this day, he still can't quite believe how he got her attention. But it's just life, he guesses.

Loki is probably laughing right now.

So he went on each day, trying to comfort himself with the new thing that is called his left leg. He's glad that most people tend to ignore it as does he. The more in-depth he gets with the process of losing a leg, the less likely he'll be okay for the rest of the day. So he's happy to indulge in the fact that he's just a complete human being.

That is until he falls.

He was always clumsy before, it's just something that he never got out of it. But with the fact that he now has a prosthetic leg that he can't seem to control, he tends to fall that much more often. Every time he does he curses and gets up. He always knows that there's a bruise somewhere around his body for all the falling he's done but as a good friend of his said, "learning on the job." So with that, he grits his teeth and gets up. He knows that it's going to be a long process, no matter what but sometimes, he'd wished that he'd stop falling so often.

So yeah, even with the tension between both dragon and Viking and him trying to be the peacemaker, he still is very happy where he is now instead of a year ago.

…

* * *

…

At some point though, he doesn't appreciate the gestures of help.

He's heading towards his house, having just worked at the forge a couple of hours after figuring out what will be Gobber's new job. He's just wanting to sharpen some weapons to just numb his mind for the moment, having it run high while trying to think of a reason why the Monstrous Nightmare was running around the plaza wrecking the place. He just needed to do something to get his mind off of the event that just occurred.

"Crazy night, huh?" A voice says behind him. He smiles softly as he stops, looking back to see the blond shield maiden without her Nadder. He chuckles lightly and tiredly.

"Yeah. Who knew that dragons were so sensitive with their teeth?" He asks her rhetorically as he turns his whole body to face her. The moonlight seems to hit her just perfectly to where his breath hitched. He knows that even though they're friends, there's going to be nothing more than that, and he's trying to be okay with that. Deep down, he just wishes there was but she's _Astrid Hofferson_ and he's _Hiccup Haddock_. Those two should rarely be mentioned together.

"I guess you learn something every day ahh dragon master." She jokingly says as she drops her arms from placing them on her hips. He laughs slightly, of all the people who tell him that, she's the one who says it often and sincere.

"Guess so. Next, I'll learn how they see a fire." He sarcastically says to her, never once been at ease with her than now. He sees her mouth slightly curve upwards and he couldn't help but celebrate in his head. He got her to smile. A very slight smile. Almost not noticeable.

But noticeable for him.

"Anyways, I should get going." He tells her earnestly. He's honestly really tired at the moment and just wants to take off his prosthetic. Just as he's about to turn towards the direction of his house, his prosthetic leg slips on the ground below him.

The next second, he's down for the count.

"Oh Thor, are you okay Hiccup?" Astrid asks him as he grunts out his response. No, he's not okay. He just got reminded that he's not a complete being and all he wants to do is go home and remove the metal thing that's supposed to represent his leg.

"Yeah," he waves in the general direction of her voice, not wanting her to see him in such state. "I might take a while to get up though so I guess I'll leave you be so you can—"

He 'hmmph' though Astrid picking him up, putting her arms through his armpits to raise him and holding his arms as he tries to balance himself again. He didn't expect that and he's conflicted on how to feel. It's like he was just a useless barrel that could do nothing.

"Thanks." He says harshly towards the ground, feeling weak and dejected. As much as he knows just how great and amazing she is, sometimes he just wishes she wouldn't go to the lengths she does to help him. He snorts internally, she probably already thinks of him as a weak person who can't even walk a couple of paces without falling face-first into the ground. He feels something raise his chin as he's forced to look into her blue eyes.

"Hiccup, don't ever be afraid of asking me for help, alright?" She says as she drops her hand, making him just stare at her. As much as he appreciates what she's trying to do, he wants to just have independence once again and not have to rely on other people to help him do what is just regular things everyone does. He nods to her, hoping that'll be enough. The moonlight hitting her still doesn't make him relax as he just wants to turn again and go home.

"Goodnight Astrid."

"Goodnight Hiccup."

He turns away, scowling at his lower leg.

He likes to thank his leg for making him less of a Viking than everyone else around here.

…

* * *

…

"Uh, er, um, s-so, uh, so we're good now?" He says, rubbing his hair with his left hand, unsure how he can handle this situation without making it more awkward. He was just hugging Astrid seconds ago. There was some coughing from Astrid's part, although it seems to be more like trying to get her bearings together and less like getting something out of her throat.

"Go-good as new." She says, her tone not as confident as it usually is. She then punches him at the left shoulder, making him yell out as he starts to rub it, him looking towards her eyes briefly making him smile. As much as they haven't talked about these kinds of interactions, he's okay knowing that they happen and he gets away usually physically well.

Usually.

"Interesting how the dragons just opened up a path of ice above us. It's as if they were trying to protect us." He ponders out loud, looking towards both Toothless and Stormfly. Both dragons have their wings spread apart, making sure that they were in a slight cocoon within the dragons as he sees how one piece of snowfalls and hits the wings of the dragons. His leg's acting up again as he hisses lowly. Even after everything, his leg wants to be noticed and he doesn't want to notice it now.

"You okay Hiccup?" Astrid asks and he wants to curse out because just a minute ago, he was hugging her and now he's slowly rubbing his left leg or the fleshy part of his left leg. He hates how sometimes the gods want to smile at him and then tear that away and start to laugh at him.

"Mhmm." He says to her, trying his hardest to not grit his teeth as he tries to be more and more discreet at the cold hitting his leg. "Just cold. S'all." He mutters to her. He hears a warble from above and he looks up towards Toothless, seeing his face of concern making himself just sigh a bit. He's learning just bit by bit to accept a bit of help.

"You don't look like you're just cold." It wasn't condescending. It never is. It was just a genuine question. He gets them from time to time when his leg flares up and he feels the need to just sit. Thank the gods that Toothless would usually provide some type of shelter with his wings or just something so that he can keep some form of dignity.

That being said, it _hurts_. He doesn't know if the pain of the leg hurts more than the general prodding that some villagers do. He knows deep down that he isn't just a normal Viking. Abnormal is the correct term. Atypical. Anomalous. He hates it.

Stupid leg.

"I'm fine." He bites back. He then winces in retaliation because he just responded harshly to Astrid Hofferson. His crush. Man, that's a slight screw-up.

"Hiccup—"

"No. It's fine. Sorry about that." He says, still looking right at his left leg and rubbing it. He'd rather not face the wrath of Astrid as he tries to make himself seem tough. He glances upwards towards the slowly melting ceiling, praying to the _helpful_ gods (Not you Loki) that this process would speed up. In his peripherals, he sees Toothless cooing at him, noticing his pain and he just slightly waves him off in a sense that Astrid doesn't see. Usually, Toothless would just rub his head against the knee and somehow that would dull the pain but he doesn't think that it would be a great idea because he's here with someone else and he likes his pride and dignity.

"No, it's not." She responds right back and then he looks up to see her to his left looking towards the leg in question and seeing that he's still rubbing it up and down. He winces at the tone of her voice, hearing the slight miffed of how he just blew her off. Maybe. He doesn't know.

"Don't worry about it 'strid." He says to her using a slight nickname by not pronouncing the "a" in her name. The pain is still growing despite his many times telling her that it's a-ok. "I'll just go home and just do something about it."

She looks towards the leg with some doubt in her face and then looks towards Stormfly. She chirps to her dragon and the Nadder goes towards her rider, tilting her head in confusion on why she's being called until Astrid gets up and goes through one of her satchels. He looks towards Toothless and sees him still looking at him like he's done something wrong.

He's still rubbing his leg.

"Hiccup." She regains his attention as he turns to find her with a couple of bandages. "Move your hands." Her posture with one hand on her hip and the other holding her bandages screams out that she won't take no for an answer. Even the most pig-headed stubborn Viking wouldn't dare to say no.

He's beyond a pig-head stubborn Viking. Or, well, three-quarters of a Viking.

"I'm fine. Thank you for your concern but it's just for a few minutes and then we'll be on our merry way." He tells her with as much conviction as he can, keeping eye contact with her on the final part of the sentence to just kind of confirm the fact that he's _alright_.

Because he's alright, alright?

She goes down on her knees and he stops rubbing, raising his left hand towards her to just make her at ease and she slaps it away. He raises his other hand she also does the same, making both his hands go to his side. He opens his mouth but just finds her glaring at him to keep it shut. He then proceeds to close it. As much as how at ease he's starting to be with her, there's still this aura which makes him terrified of her.

She fiddles with the harness of the prosthetic leg. He just looks at her, watching her eyes concentrate on the contraption that is his metal leg. After a couple of long seconds, he sees her slightly struggling.

"Here, let me—"

"It's _fine_." She says to him, keeping her tone even and seemingly backslapping him with what seems to be the same tone he used to her. Of course, Astrid would be not only good at physical manipulation but also emotional manipulation.

And for just a minute or so, it was dead silent. Just the slight hit of snow on the dragon's wings was heard as Astrid finally got the contraption. She unhitches the prosthetic and he hisses slightly, making her pause and look towards him although all he's looking at is just the connection of his leg and the prosthetic. He glances weakly towards Toothless to find him just staring into the growing hole of the ceiling. Although he wouldn't be surprised if he's also just avoiding his gaze.

He hisses again slightly as he feels the lack of pressure of the prosthetic against his limb. As she takes it out, he boldly puts his hand on the stump of his leg. He knows himself that the view of the stump isn't beautiful by one bit and he doesn't want to show this to Astrid lest he wants to see her vomit at the sight.

"Look, uh, Astrid." He starts, seeing her raising her eyebrow and her eyes just tell him that he only has a few seconds before she's going to chop off his hands. "I appreciate the gesture you're doing, no really. But, uh, I, uh…" He fumbles slightly, looking towards the stump to get some type of inspiration. "This isn't the prettiest view. If you'd want, I'd just do this part myself. Thank you though." Unlike the previous times where he went on a slight monologue, he meant this one with all his heart. Astrid seems to register this as she bites her lip and looks towards the covered stump.

After a bit, she sighs. "Okay. Hic." He wants to wince at that. She'd only call him that when he's _technically_ right but right on the verge of being wrong. "Here," she gives him the bandage and he takes it earnestly. With that, he looks towards Toothless to find him enraptured by the conversation. He coughs slightly and he smiles softly at how fast Toothless gets the fact that he wants a bit of privacy from Astrid. With that, he scoots slightly closer to Toothless and the ebony dragon seems to have created a dome around him, making it seem like a small room where he was covered.

When he finishes, the hole of the ceiling was big enough for a dragon to make through. With that, he smiles towards the blond shieldmaiden although he wasn't rewarded the same treatment. He slightly hops towards her, because she has his prosthetic. She still leans against her dragon, waiting for him although she has her back towards him.

His hopping skills have improved. There have been times when he's forgotten to put his leg on or when he had to go to the bathroom and it couldn't wait. So that wasn't the issue. No, the issue was this was snow and there was a thin layer of ice to it.

He looks towards the ground, seeing the distance and looks upwards to find Astrid just fiddling around in her satchel. The more logical part of his brain told him to just leave his pride be, to ask for her help. The more stubborn part of his brain told him that it's possible. It shouldn't be that hard to do and if he can do this in the middle of the night then the ice shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

He hears a slight warble, making him look behind to find Toothless seemingly point towards Astrid. It seemed to be a question on whether or not he needed to be lifted towards her. He scoffs slightly, he _can_ make this distance. This isn't hard.

This isn't hard.

He hops a bit, trying to make it to the small parts of snow that seem to indicate that it should be easier to step on. Within the first couple of hops, he's already felt a loss in the balance where he had to swirl his arms to get the balance right.

_Just ask her._ His mind kept persisting. _She told you a couple of days ago that you don't have to be afraid of asking for her help_. _So why aren't you taking it?_

"Astrid," he gives up, not wanting to see her face of how weak he is. He knows deep down that he can't make it to her. He hears a bit of a scuffling in front of him but still looks towards his one foot. "Can you help me?" Gods, his voice trembled like it was the worst thing to ask. Maybe it was, he doesn't know. He didn't want to know.

He hears the crunching of snow ahead of him and knows that Astrid is coming towards him. It's not until she says his name that he realizes that he was becoming tenser this whole time. He raises his head alongside his eyes to find her looking disappointed as well as concerned. Her left fist was on her hip as her right hand was holding her prosthetic. She was extending the prosthetic so that he can grab it. He does grab it, clutching it to him as if it was something dear. Well, it _is _his prosthetic so he guesses that count. He thanks her softly and finds himself into a new predicament.

How is he going to sit down and put this on?

He's staring deeply into the prosthetic, trying to find the solution to his problem and finds Astrid just crossing her arms as if she knew that his problem. No. He already lost basically everything right now. He needs to show her that he can be independent. He can do this.

There's a small little bump of snow on his left and he's deciding how he's going to get there. He has to physically turn and then maybe almost let himself fall into the snow so that he can put on his prosthetic leg. That sounds like a plausible solution. He doesn't know if there's anything else he could do without hindering his already weak independent stature to her.

"Hiccup." He hears his name and turns his to head to see her left hand outstretching with her palm open and raises his eyes to find her with a comforting gaze. "Come on. I'll grab you and put you down gently." He glances towards his left to see the small bump of snow and contemplates. He doesn't want to fight it anymore and he nods numbly, grabbing her hand with his free hand and with her help stabilizing him, he hops faster and makes it to the destination. With that, he turns a half rotation and with her help, proceeds to lower himself down to get himself sitting on the bump of snow. He smiles at his prosthetic and proceeds to put it on. After a couple of silent minutes, he looks to his left to find Astrid on her knees looking rather angry at the prosthetic as if there was some rivalry between the two of them.

"Thank—"

"Why?" She cuts him off, making him close his mouth as he keeps his eyes on her. He's not sure about what she's referring to as he hopes his silence will make her continue. "Why are you so stubborn to accept help?" She asks him as she moves her head towards him.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles towards her, looking towards his metal contraption. "I, I just don't want to look useless in front of people I want to lead. People already know I'm weaker than all of the teens yet I'm the one who has to lead them forward. I just don't want people to get used to me being dependant on others." He finishes off as he stares right at her knees, not wanting to face her eyes. She didn't seem to want that as a slight force pushes him upwards to meet her eyes. A clash of his green eyes meets her sapphire ones. She appears to be looking at something in his eyes as he just wants to look away but can't. After a bit, she smiles softly as she punches him in the arm.

"Ow!" He yells out, his voice echoing in the small confines. "Why, why would you do that?" He says, rubbing the arm to relieve some of the pain.

"That's for thinking something so inane." She says as he winces softly, hoping that his hair is long enough to cover his eyes. She blindsides him again as she goes for the other arm.

"Ow!" He yells again, raising his eyes towards hers. He wouldn't be surprised if his eyes were on fire. "Can you not try to injure me. I'm already fully injured from one leg and I'd prefer to have two functioning arms!"

"That's," She goes on as if he hadn't said anything, "for not wanting my help because you're stubborn."

"I don't want to appear weak Astrid! Who knows what would happen if I started to just always ask for help. Some villagers wouldn't…" He trails off, cowering a bit as she raises her hand again. And she goes downwards and he closes his eyes, expecting a blow.

Instead, she ever so gently cups his cheek, making him open his eyes slightly. She smiles softly at him.

"Remember this. You're not weak, fragile or useless. You're the strongest person I know Hiccup. Not everyone can wake up from losing a leg and walk on the same day. You did that and more, you flew with Toothless less than ten minutes after waking up." Her breath is hitting his face as she's extremely close to him and he doesn't want to gulp. "You're an amazing inventor and a genius diplomat. If anyone, and I mean _anyone_, doesn't matter how old they are or if they're in a higher position than you ever want to say anything different, then they'll have to go through me first. Okay?" She finishes off and he blinks, the first time he's done during her monologue.

That's a handful of what she's saying directly and what she's implying. He's touched by the strong feelings and consequences that she'll deliver if someone even gives a hint that they don't think he has what it takes to be a leader. It's just the fact that this seems to be more for two people who are in a relationship rather than two good friends just talking to each other.

Is that what they are? More than good friends, just at the edge of something more with his crush. Always dodging around the same dance no matter how obvious it may seem to others. Maybe. He's not too sure what she wants to date someone who can't even walk without slipping at one point or another. Plus, there are other candidates at the table. He's being selfish.

Then what? Is it just a promise between two good friends that care deeply about each other? He knows that she respects him because he's the heir but also because he has put the teens of Berk out of sticky situations involving the dragons. She knows that he's an asset from time to time and maybe she wants to protect that. Yeah. Maybe this is the right assumption. She just wants to protect the heir of Berk.

"Thanks 'strid." He says before raising his eyes towards her, still seeing her in the same distance but no longer caressing his cheek like before. "I don't know what I'll do without you." He says sincerely as she grins.

"You know what they always say, 'behind every great Viking there's a woman who makes him better every day.'" She says with confidence and he chuckles.

"I'm sure you make everyone better with just your presence Astrid. All of the teens respect you." With that, the conversation ends as he looks upwards to the high sun. "We should get out of here. As much as I'll try to be more open to accepting help, I don't think to be here will help my leg." She nods quickly as she gets up, lowering her hand for him to take and he takes it without hesitation, pulling himself upwards. He smiles at her in thanks and she nods in acceptance. He's about to head towards Toothless when she tugs at his hand, making him stop and look at her, she's slightly red as she looks at their connection then looks up with determination and steps towards him.

She kisses him on the lips, making him widen his eyes at the whole thing. He's not too sure what to respond but his heart does as he closes his eyes and wraps his ignored arm around her, standing taller to focus purely on her.

They break apart, making him slowly flutter his eyes open to find her smiling widely and with a red face. He coughs slightly at what's transpired and he can't stop the grin that crosses his face.

"Right. Um, so I'll see you later then?" He says and she nods again, making them split ways as they get on their respective dragons. With that, she waves at him and they fly off, making Toothless and he the only beings here.

"Man, she's amazing," he says softly as he hears a warble under him. He looks down to find Toothless seemingly giving him his signature smile and he rolls his eyes.

"Nothing happened. Now, let's go. There's probably something awaiting us once we resurface again."

With that, they leave towards the outside, him yelling out as he sees Berk again and heads towards there.

…

* * *

…

He leaves the commotion of the Great Hall, breathing in the cold night air as he smiles. Another shield was posted on the wall of the Great Hall of Leaders with an actual depiction of how he looks like. It was a crazy afternoon with the teens as they navigated long distances between islands to find out Hamish the Second was a hiccup just like himself.

He goes towards the left to find Toothless stretching out, already seeing his rider and best friend leave the Hall. With that, he gets on, patting his head.

"Thanks, bud for everything." He mutters into his neck, still scratching everywhere. "Now let's go somewhere to view the stars." With that, he hears his friend's wings spread out and they leave the Great Hall, heading towards someplace secluded.

They arrive towards a cliff somewhere in Berk where a log was cut down extremely near the cliffside, the place where he was writing down his cheat sheet for the prosthetic fin. He gets off his friend and pats him in the neck, making Toothless settle himself down until he walks and he hears a small blast, indicating that Toothless is getting himself comfortable with the ground.

He makes it to the edge and sits down, dangling his legs over the cliff and hoisting himself up via his arms as he looks upwards. The stars are always something intriguing to him, especially away from the torches around Berk and tonight is no different than any other night. He sighs softly, letting the pressure and stress of today melt away with each passing inhale and exhale.

It's been rather hectic but he's glad the whole gang was there along the whole way. He wouldn't be too sure if he's was going to make it through the whole treasure map but he's rather happy at the fact that he isn't the only hiccup down his bloodline. He feels more confident in his abilities to lead Berk now since the Hamishes were known for being respectful leaders who only flourished the village and made them richer overtime.

He releases the pressure of his arms, making him fall softly on the ground and thus, having a better view of the stars. He comes here from time to time to relax from a day's work or sometimes to think of a plan to deal with Mildew or Alvin and the Outcasts. He exhales softly and closes his eyes to the peacefulness of his environment.

He hears a squawk and he opens his eyes, finding a dragon circling the cliffside and he slightly sits up, using his elbows to rest on the ground as the dragon descends towards Toothless, he twists his head, following the dragon and sees that it's Stormfly. The smile on his face is extremely unconscious as he sees someone get off the dragon and proceed to pet Toothless slightly as the dragon gets up from his resting place, probably off to play with Stormfly.

The person continues forward and he greets her sincerely as he turns him to look up at the stars again. "M'lady." He says in greeting as he hears the crunch of the grass behind him. The crunch starts to become more apparent to his left as he sees in his peripherals the figure of the blond shieldmaiden preparing herself to lay down alongside him. After a couple of seconds, she's comfortable as he turns his head back up towards the stars.

And they stay there for a while, just staring up at the stars. "I'm proud of you Hiccup." She says, breaking the silence as he turns his head to find the stars shining perfectly down on her. She seems to be glowing basically from the light as she still looks ahead of her which is the sky. He stares her right side of her face, expecting her to say something more but as the silence continues, he turns his head to its rightful place.

"I'm surprised you wanted to tag along considering just how against the idea you were."

"Didn't want you alone with the muttonheads." She responds immediately and he laughs towards the open air. "Plus," she continues on her reasoning. "I wanted to see." She says extremely vaguely. He turns to her again, this time seeing her face completely. He raises his eyebrow towards her, silently asking her to elaborate.

"Well, everyone knows about the legend of the treasure of Hamish the Second. Riches beyond anyone can see. I guess I wanted to see how far you'd get considering the legends of how Vikings could never crack the code. You always seem to be full of surprises and I wanted to see if this was any different." She seems to be saying this as if it's always been a fairy tale in the making. He blushes slightly as he can't seem to divert his eyes off of hers.

"Thanks." He says earnestly, finally breaking their connection to sit slightly by resting his elbows, looking towards the vast sea beyond the cliff. He sighs happily. All he wanted was to be accepted by his father and he got exactly that. He smiles towards the endless sea. Since the dawn of time, he always thought that being extremely buff and going with plans that include your brawn instead of your brain was the way to go forward. He realizes by the parchment of paper of the drawing of Hamish the Second and Hamish the First that maybe brains would always be useful.

"What's the matter Hiccup? You don't look happy," she asks him, also doing the same thing as him in terms of posture and he looks towards the sea.

"I don't know. I feel great, amazing even. I did something Vikings could never do and yet, I just don't know." He says, looking towards his left to find her always looking at him, always listening and understanding him. He shakes his head and away from his uncertainties and smiles towards her. "That being said, I can't take all of the credit, you guys did come along and helped me today." She rolls her eyes.

"Right. All I did was take care of the three muttonheads." She says while shaking her head at the memories of them almost harming all of them from time to time. He lets out a chuckle at just how annoyed her voice sounds when she's talking about Snotlout and the twins.

"That's quite a big feat, don't sell yourself short." He tells her, looking again at the ocean. "It's impressive that someone can do that. Not everyone can tolerate the twins and Snot." She snorts at his compliments.

"I guess I just wanted to see if you're alright." She finalizes the conversation and his leg starts to flare up slightly. It's probably already irritated by all of the walkings that they've done throughout the day. He pushes himself away from the cliff and goes ahead to rub his left leg.

"You alright Hiccup?" She asks him and he thins his lips in thought.

"Just slightly aches. I think all that adventuring put a toll on it." He gives her a smile that hopes to ease her worries. "It should be fine. I think it'll be alright later on." He keeps on rubbing it, just more of an unconscious decision than anything else. She just looks at the gesture but doesn't comment on it. He's grateful for that.

"Well, it seems like it's been a roller coaster this past couple of weeks." She comments and he laughs.

"Yeah, well I didn't think it would be easy to convince stubborn to the bone people that their most hated enemy is somehow not an enemy but an ally. But, slowly they're understanding. I don't mind if it takes my whole chieftain to make them accept it." And he means it. He knows that it's going to be a long and brutal process for him to get both the Vikings and the Dragons to accept and gain from each other but he knows that it's possible.

"I don't think it'll be that long." She counteracts as she rests again, this time on her hands so she's almost the same height as him. "I can see how most of the villagers are slowly accepting dragons."

"It's not that 'strid," he says, looking towards her general direction. "It's smiling when they run past your front door in search of food. It's laughing with them when they do something comical. It's trying to understand what they're trying to tell you." He stops, looking behind him to see the two dragons seemingly playing tug-o-war with a stick that they're both gnawings at. He almost wants to laugh at the fact that the unholy offspring of lightning and death is losing said tug-o-war to a Deadly Nadder. "It's treating them as your friends, not as just alliances."

"I don't want Berk to just accept them, I want them to be comfortable with the dragons. To tame them, to be one with them. That's what I want." He says and he turns his head away from Stormfly gaining on Toothless to see Astrid looking towards the same scenery.

"At least you have a goal," she finally comments as he chuckles a mirthless laugh. "Don't worry Hiccup, they're slowly getting there." She finishes and his leg's dull ache has begun to increase in pain. He's starting to rub it with more pressure and he hopes that she hasn't noticed yet.

They're in silence again as he looks towards her face, her just having a slight stoic expression but he can see her eyes gleaming with a sort of happiness. He completely turns towards the ocean and looks down towards his leg. He wants to go home but he rarely gets these moments with Astrid and he doesn't want to spoil it all because of a stupid leg.

Stupid leg.

"Is your leg alright?" He hears her, making him whip his head towards her. She seems a bit more concerned with his state than the first time he's asked that question. He grumbles softly, knowing that she's too smart to let him suffer in silence.

"It's fine, just a flare like I told you." He responds with a thin line, making her raise her eyebrow. The silence that remains is your last words before you will suffer the wrath of Astrid. The thing about it is that he has suffered and survived through this. Plus, it's not anything important.

It's just his leg.

Nonetheless, the reckoning from Hofferson starts. "Hic, don't do this. You're doing what you did weeks ago at the cave." She starts slow. Usually, she'd start with the yelling and the shouting, at least for the rest of the teens. With him though, he's starting to notice that she's doing a different approach. A different tactic. She's going to ramp it up slowly.

"Unlike weeks ago, this is nothing. Just a blimp. I don't want all of our conversations to revolve about just my leg. _I'm fine_." His voice over the months after defeating the Red Death has gotten more and more authoritative and he's glad that from time to time it gets people to stand in line. Astrid would be one of those people who would stand back in line but not when it's about the subject of his missing limb.

"It's not _fine!_ Why can't you just tell me the truth from the getgo!?" There goes the yelling and she's standing up, making him stretch his neck to see her face completely well. She's crossing her arms, and he's sure that this is going to be a discussion that will be unavoidable at this point. "You don't need to be stubborn around me Hic. You're not weak just because you lost a leg."

"I'm always _weak_, Astrid!" He shouts, wanting to get up but a sharp pain getting him back to his senses to just relax. "I'm always in pain! It hurts when it shouldn't. It feels like I have a new leg when I do hard activities. I just don't want to think about it! I don't want people to feel pity for me! No one did before this whole fiasco with the big dragon!" He pauses, waiting to hear something from her. He looks up to find her biting her lip as if she's embarrassed at the fact that he still remembers the bitter memories of him being hurt.

"It didn't matter to you or the village in the winter! Not the fact that I was fighting for my position as heir nor my screw-ups. Not my single phrases or me telling people I've captured a dragon. Nothing went through their heads to even care!" He sighs frustratingly as he looks towards the calming waters of the sea. "Now though, everything I say and do concerns everyone and I hate it! Now everyone notices me and I don't like it. I sometimes wish I was invisible so that I can deal with my problems."

Quietness. Stillness. Nothingness.

He waits, knowing that she's processing his words and is about to go on a rant herself about him. He knows her. He appreciates everything that she's done in terms of after the vanquishing of the Red Death, but sometimes he does wish that he can be alone some days. Days where he just wants to go towards the forest and just draw the atmosphere. Days where he just wants to go to the end of the world. Days where he wants to numb his mind by just working at the forge.

But on the other hand, he can never deny the teens when they want to go out to try some things or to make a competition out of something. This was something he's always dreamed of doing with them and he's done so multiple times. They've had many adventures already in their short friendship such as today when they went out to find the treasure of Hamish the Second. And yet, some days he wishes he could say no.

"I'm sorry." She says after an eerie silence that has covered the both of them. He looks up while rubbing his left leg, seeing her still standing but then getting down on both of her knees so that they were both at around eye-level. He's a bit stunned by the apology but keeps himself quiet, knowing that she probably still has other words to say.

"I know that Berk, myself included, haven't been the nicest to you before all this." She gestures towards the prosthetic and he has to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying that she used his quote on him. "I didn't think that you would still have to think that people still look at you that way." She continues, making him finally stop looking at her arms and instead look towards her face where it seems like she's struggling to get words.

"Look, Astrid. I'm sorry—"

"Let me finish." She interrupts him. Although the gesture was rude she says with a weird kind voice that he's silent again. She looks towards the prosthetic. "I know that all these years of torment won't go away and that you'll always think that you need to show the village that you have what it takes to lead them. The thing is Hiccup, is that they already know that you do ever since the incident." She reaches out and grabs his hand that's been rubbing while her other arm goes to settle on his shoulder closest to her.

"They know that you're tough mentally, you're a genius by figuring out the puzzle and the treasure that no Viking could ever do with today's adventure. You're a peacemaker by how you're handling yourself between the Vikings and the dragons. No one - and I mean no one – will ever say that you're not good enough for Berk."

Silence. Unlike the other times where she's had to hold his chin so that they could maintain eye contact, he's holding on his own, looking straight at her eyes. Although, slowly his vision starts to blur and he blinks, realizing that he's actually about to cry and breaks eye contact.

He turns his whole body away, "geez, sorry. Probably something in the wind that caught my eye." He mumbles lamely, trying to get out the excess moisture that's in his eyes. He hiccups slightly, trying to contain the tears that's slowly pouring out and he despises himself. Now? Man, all that tough talk from Astrid to him and he responds by crying. What a Viking.

"Oh man," he tries to continue, "it's really in there." He continues rubbing until he feels some movement from his left. He doesn't dare move his head towards her though, not wanting to make her see what state he's in. He chokes slightly on the upcoming tears.

He feels a breath from his neck and he takes his hand off his eyes and opens them to see an arm around his stomach. Oh. She's hugging him. He realizes that he's kind of stuck in this position and just tries to breathe in and out and calm himself down.

"Don't stop Hiccup," she tells him softly, even so, it's almost crystal clear considering her mouth is almost right at his left ear. "Let go. It's fine. I'm here."

And he does.

Instead of trying to hold it in, hiccuping and choking, he sobs silently as he leans his head against hers. He shakes ever so slightly, he knows because of how he feels with her arms around him slowly moving around to accommodate both of them. He continues crying, not caring anymore. The hard shell he's been trying to create for the rest of the village and she exclusively has suddenly been chipped away from her glare, from her voice, from just being _her_.

This time though, instead of trying to fight it off like all the other times, he lets her see this. See just how much the past has affected him, although he tries his hardest not to show the rest of the village. To see just how much he wants the satisfaction of his father, even to the extent of sacrificing his own life and the lives of his friends to prove himself worthy of leading everyone. To see he's just trying his hardest to implement dragons in the normal lives of the Hairy Hooligans and make them prosper. It's a toll on him. And although he would usually just have Toothless curl around him, he's happy with the fact that Astrid seems to have given him an outlet too.

Minutes later, he opens his eyes clear to see the waves of the sea in front of him, just to remind himself that every day is getting better for him and his goals. No words need to be exchanged for her position of her hugging him to change to her just having an arm behind his back and her shifting so that they'll both see the same view. What's changed though is just how her head seems to have nestled in between his shoulder and his head and how he has his head on top of hers but it's something that he'll never comment on.

It's nice, being so close to her and not experiencing physical harm. It's nice to vent out to someone who doesn't respond with warbles and crooning and flipping their ear flaps around to indicate what they're thinking. He appreciates her for sticking with him throughout his stubbornness mishaps, but that's why they work well together. They both can see each other's flaws and correct them accordingly and know when it's something a bit too personal for both of them.

But this calming atmosphere changes when he hears a warble behind him, making them split apart as he turns his head back to see the dragons kind of yawning, indicating that they're probably tired and he yawns as well. He doesn't know how long he's been here in the cliffs but he knows that they should've probably left eons ago. He doesn't mind as Astrid seems to have read his mind and gets up, dusting herself off as he stretches. He looks to his left to find a hand and he picks it up, getting himself up via her help as they're both almost the same height. With that, she smiles at him. A genuine smile, not a smile that happens when he scolds the twins or Snotlout or a smile about the "mumbo jumbo" that he and Fishlegs have when talking about improvements of saddles or just improving things. No, this smile is the smile she gives to him when they're both alone. When she's proud of what he's accomplished. A blush rises from within him as he returns the smile. They would've stayed there for a bit if it wasn't for another warble from Toothless, this time a more impatient one which makes him eye roll, something that makes her smile slightly bigger.

"I'm going bossy," He breaks the neverending silence, looking towards his left to find Toothless innocently looking towards Stormfly who seems to be preening herself. He shakes his head at the antics of his best friend and looks back towards the blond shieldmaiden.

"I should, uh, go." He says to her as he lets go of her hand, knowing that this is probably the waning moments of this conversation. "Thank you so much for just being here Astrid. I don't know what I'll do without you."

"You know what they say," she says as she grabs his hand, pulling him slightly towards her as she pecks him on the cheek. His blush increases tenfold, not expecting such a bold move from her. "Behind every great Hiccup, an Astrid is making him better."

He looks back towards her, more like her retreating form. She only glances at him and then clicks her tongue as she runs towards the cliffs while yelling out a goodbye. With that, she jumps off the cliff and he turns slightly to find Stormfly dive right after her rider. Within a couple of seconds, they even out and they immediately head towards the village of Berk.

He stares at their figure in the stars, understanding the meaning of her final sentence. He breaks out in a grin and his hand slightly raises as he feels scales beneath him as he turns to find Toothless looking at him and towards the sky as if wanting to already leave. He laughs slightly as he scratches him in between the eyes, smiling while doing so.

"Let's go bud. It's been a busy day. And it's only going to get busier and busier. And I'll be okay with that."

Because even after their biggest argument, he's almost safe to say that he's gotten something amazing in exchanged for his missing limb. He's gotten the general acceptance of his village. He's getting even more than the approval of his father. He's getting to have some of his best times with friends who want him to be there.

But – most of all – he's gotten the most beautiful shield maiden to look at him and always be there for him. And he knows that he'll always be there for her, for better or for worse.

And with that, they fly off.

…

* * *

…

**Four months, around two thousand words. These past three days, six thousand words. Nothing more needs to be said there. Enjoy.**

…

**Created: July 29, 2019**

**First Draft: December 10, 2019**

**Final Draft: December 11, 2019**

**Published: December 11, 2019**

…


End file.
